File No. 763.72114/2800a
The Acting Secretary of State to the Minister in Switzerland ( Stovall)
813. The Department considers that the time has now arrived to enter into an agreement with the German Government formally announcing the American Prisoners Central Committee at Berne as a relief society, and requesting for that society and its duly accredited agents facilities for the efficient performance of its humane task within the bounds imposed by military necessities and administrative regulations. This agreement should further define the contents of food and comfort packages and the method for forwarding and delivery of the same as proposed by the Committee. As these are matters which depend largely upon the local conditions at Berne and the size and scope of the Committee’s organization, the Department will be glad to have the Committee prepare and cable as soon as possible the substance of a tentative agreement to be submitted by the Department to the German Government.
As the American Prisoners Central Committee has now been definitely settled upon as the intermediary for war prison relief, the War Department recommends that representatives of the Committee be accredited to the Staff of the Commanding General, United States Expeditionary Forces, to the Quartermaster General, and at such other points as these two may deem necessary. This liaison is deemed necessary to insure the administration of the affairs of the Committee working in harmony with military operations. Please cable to the Department the names of such representatives as the Committee may be in a position to accredit to the military centers mentioned. The Red Cross in Washington informs the Department that they are in a position to supply such representatives if desired.
The War Department further suggests that pending the uncertain period when an assured supply of food can be furnished by the Committee, a number of army rations, the components and exact [Page 61] number to be determined later, be dispatched to Berne from the United States, consigned to our Military Attaché for transfer by him to the Committee, these rations to be repacked by the Committee and forwarded to American war prisoners in Germany; and that thereafter shipments of rations to be determined by the Commanding Officer of United States Expeditionary Forces be made to the Committee at Berne to insure a supply of rations on hand at that point. The Department will be glad to have the views of the Committee in this connection.
Finally, the Department desires an expression of opinion as to the extent to which the Young Men’s Christian Association should be asked to cooperate with the American Red Cross in procuring and shipping packages of food to American prisoners of war in Germany. The Red Cross has expressed its readiness to undertake this entire work and is recognized as an authorized auxiliary organization to the Army, but on the other hand it may be considered that the Young Men’s Christian Association have greater facilities for carrying out the actual distribution of the packages through their neutral representatives in Germany and that cooperation between the two organizations, possibly with territorial apportionment, is desirable.
The Department will be glad to receive from the Committee a comprehensive and detailed statement of its views and recommendations covering each of the above-mentioned points. Castle1 has not yet arrived.
- William R. Castle, Jr., Director of Bureau of Communications, American Red Cross.↩